Creating a config file in PHP

Question

I want to create a config file for my PHP project, but I'm not sure what the best way to do this is.

I have 3 ideas so far.

1-Use Variable

$config['hostname'] = "localhost"; $config['dbuser'] = "dbuser"; $config['dbpassword'] = "dbpassword"; $config['dbname'] = "dbname"; $config['sitetitle'] = "sitetitle"; 

2-Use Const

define('DB_NAME', 'test'); define('DB_USER', 'root'); define('DB_PASSWORD', ''); define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); define('TITLE', 'sitetitle'); 

3-Use Database

I will be using the config in classes so I'm not sure which way would be the best or if there is a better way.

Answer 1

One simple but elegant way is to create a config.php file (or whatever you call it) that just returns an array:

<?php  return array(     'host' => 'localhost',     'username' => 'root', ); 

And then:

$configs = include('config.php'); 

Answer 2

Use an INI file is a flexible and powerful solution! PHP has a native function to handle it properly. For example, it is possible to create an INI file like this:

app.ini

[database] db_name     = mydatabase db_user     = myuser db_password = mypassword  [application] app_email = [email protected] app_url   = myapp.com 

So the only thing you need to do is call:

$ini = parse_ini_file('app.ini'); 

Then you can access the definitions easily using the $ini array.

echo $ini['db_name'];     // mydatabase echo $ini['db_user'];     // myuser echo $ini['db_password']; // mypassword echo $ini['app_email'];   // [email protected] 

IMPORTANT: For security reasons the INI file must be in a non public folder